Wilson College Presents New Exhibition by Artist Marcia Wolfson Ray

Wilson College will open an art exhibit featuring artwork by Baltimore visual artist Marcia Wolfson Ray on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in the Cooley Gallery, located on the second floor of the John Stewart Memorial Library (JSML). The exhibition will run through Dec. 11, 2026, and is open to the public at no cost. Wolfson Ray will deliver a public talk on Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 2 p.m. in the Cooley Gallery, and a reception will follow.

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The exhibition will showcase two- and three-dimensional work by Wolfson Ray, primarily a sculptor, who investigates processes of transformation and evolution in materials. Wolfson Ray collects pine wood, willow, and a variety of marsh grasses from Maryland’s Eastern Shore and then arranges them into complex forms exploring modular units, patterns, and the repetition and variety of forms.

Each winter, the Eastern Shore marshes are burned. This controlled burn allows for healthy spring growth, increases plant variety, and enhances wildlife habitat. The patterns of nature created by the process act as a catalyst for her ideas. Wolfson Ray builds pine scaffolding with willow dowels, then weaves, ties, and glues smaller sticks and grasses to the structure. She writes: “With each work I create, I take a journey in a very physical sense with a destination that reveals itself step by step. The initiation of this process, which begins when I am out in the landscape, allows me an intimacy with the natural world, which helps me feel connected to the very thing that makes my existence possible.”

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A native of Baltimore, Wolfson Ray earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Maryland Institute College of Art and taught in Baltimore City public schools for more than 25 years. She has exhibited widely on the Atlantic coast at venues including Coastal Carolina University, College of Southern Maryland, University of Connecticut, Hillyer Art Space in Washington, D.C., Blue Spiral 1 Gallery in Asheville, N.C., among others.

The exhibition is opening during JSM Library’s regular hours, Sunday 3-11 p.m., Monday through Thursday 7:45 a.m.-11 p.m., and Friday 7:45 a.m.-5 p.m. The Library is closed on Saturday.